What can I do to make the mesh better for everyone?

1. Keep a node on, all the time

Meshtastic nodes pass messages for each other, but only while they’re on. A node that is switched on for an hour on Sunday afternoon helps for that hour. One that runs all week is part of the network that everyone else relies on.

• A fixed node on a USB mains adapter costs very little to run. Most nodes draw well under a watt when idle.
• Outdoors, a small solar panel and battery will keep a node going through Melbourne’s winter if it’s sized for short, grey days.
• If you only have one node and you carry it, think about a second one that stays at home.

2. Put it up high, with a clear view

Height is the single biggest improvement most people can make, and it costs nothing. LoRa at 915–928 MHz travels best in a clear line between antennas. Roofs, trees, hills and buildings in the way all cost range.

• Indoors, the best spot is usually an upper-floor window facing open sky or the direction of other nodes. A desk in the middle of the house is one of the worst.
• Concrete, brick, metal roofing, foil-backed insulation and tinted or low-E glass all absorb or reflect the signal.
• Outdoors, getting the antenna above the local roofline and trees opens up paths to distant suburbs.
• Radio needs more than a thin line of sight. The signal travels in a fat, football-shaped zone between the antennas (the Fresnel zone), and on a 5 km link at 920 MHz that zone is about 20 m in radius at the middle (about 28 m for 10 km). At least 60% of it needs to be clear, which is why a few extra metres of height make such a difference.
• Terrain is the biggest limit of all. The official Meshtastic Site Planner estimates what a site could reach before you climb a ladder.

Melbourne has natural high points, from the CBD towers to the eastern hills. Nodes in high places reach a long way, which is why a few well-placed ones matter so much.

3. Mind the antenna and the cable

• Use an antenna tuned for 915–928 MHz. Many cheap kits ship with antennas tuned for other bands.
• Never transmit without an antenna attached. It can damage the radio.
• Keep the cable between the radio and the antenna as short as possible. At these frequencies, thin cable such as RG-174 can lose roughly 1 dB per metre, while thicker low-loss cable such as LMR-400 loses around 0.13 dB per metre. Every 3 dB lost is half your signal. That’s why the official advice is that putting the whole node outside often works better than keeping it indoors with the antenna outside.
• Check the connector type. SMA and RP-SMA look alike but aren’t interchangeable.
• Mount antennas vertically, clear of metal poles, gutters and walls where you can.
• Seal outdoor connectors against water. A wet connector can quietly ruin a good site.

A modest antenna, mounted high on a short cable, usually beats an impressive antenna mounted low on a long one.

4. Fill the gaps, not the crowd

The mesh gets stronger when nodes join up areas that can’t currently hear each other. Ten nodes on the same street mostly hear the same things. One node on a ridge between two suburbs can link them.

• Ask the community where the gaps are before you buy or move anything.
• If you have a high spot (a tall building, a hill, a tower you have permission to use), it may be worth more to the mesh than anything you could add at home.
• Rooftop and high-site hosting usually happens by arrangement between neighbours. Never put equipment anywhere without the owner’s permission.

5. Use the right device role

Every node has a role that controls how it behaves on the mesh. The official advice is to stay with Client, Client mute or Client base, and when in doubt, Client.

• Client (the default) sends and receives messages and helps relay others’. It suits almost every node.
• Client mute sends and receives but doesn’t relay. Use it for extra nodes in the same household or a busy area: keep one node as your relay and mute the rest.
• Client base is meant for a home roof or attic node. It relays strongly for your own nodes (the ones you mark as favourites) and behaves like a Client for everyone else.
• Router is only for stationary nodes in extremely strategic spots, such as a hilltop or a tall tower. A router in the wrong place causes collisions, uses up hops before messages reach better-placed nodes, and creates one-way links. Router late fills specific gaps and dead spots; it isn’t a rooftop range extender.
• Repeater is deprecated in current firmware.

Before choosing a router role, read Choosing the right device role and talk to operators near you.

6. Keep the channel quiet

Everyone in range shares one radio channel, and only one node can usefully transmit at a time in any one place. Each message is also repeated by other nodes as it travels. Busy channels mean collisions, delays and lost messages.

• Check your node’s channel utilisation in the app. From 25%, Meshtastic starts skipping its own routine broadcasts to make room.
• Set position and telemetry broadcasts no more often than you need. A fixed node doesn’t need to announce where it is every few minutes.
• Turn off modules you aren’t using. The range test module in particular uses a lot of airtime, so switch it off when you’ve finished.
• Run range tests and repeated test messages on a private channel, not the public one.
• Be careful with MQTT downlink, which brings internet traffic onto the radio. The official public server limits it to your own node’s neighbours; private servers using the default key may not, and can flood the mesh.
• If you’re not sure what a setting does, the official advice for busy meshes is simple: don’t change it.
• Leave the hop limit on its default. Raising it sends every message further and multiplies the traffic.
• Keep messages short. Long chats are better moved to a direct message or a group channel.

7. Work with your neighbours

• Help newcomers: answer hellos, explain the settings that matter here, and point them to Getting started.
• If you’re near someone with a better site, offer to help with a high mount, or set your own handheld to Client mute.
• Coordinate router roles so one area doesn’t end up with several overlapping routers. Official guidance says to talk to your local community before running one.
• Respect privacy. Don’t publish someone else’s node location without their consent.

8. Share what you hear

Nobody can see the whole mesh from one place. Reception reports are how gaps are found and fixed.

• Note which nodes you hear, how many hops away they are, and the signal (SNR) on direct contacts.
• Share at suburb or landmark level (“Box Hill, third floor, facing west”) rather than exact addresses.
• Report changes: a node that used to be reachable and isn’t any more is useful information.

The Melbourne community page lists places to share them, or send them to TheClique through the contact form.

9. Aim for reliable, not just more

More nodes don’t automatically mean a better mesh. A node that is badly placed, switched on and off, or set to an aggressive role can add traffic without adding useful paths. A smaller set of nodes that are always on, up high and on sensible settings will carry messages further and more dependably.

If every one of us keeps one well-placed node on, Melbourne has a mesh that works.